London Skyline to be shorn

Parkview International, the developer who own Battersea Power Station, have ended negotiations with the Twentieth Century Society about the retention of the building’s four original chimneys. Parkview have decided to reject the Society’s advice that further testing could lead to a strategy whereby the chimneys could be repaired rather than knocked down.

The Society believes that tests ought to be carried out both from the outside and from within the structures; Parkview had not commissioned tests from inside the chimneys. Their conclusion to replace the chimneys is in the Society’s opinion premature and regrettable.

The Society is deeply disappointed that no further efforts are to be made to preserve these iconic structures at one of England’s most notable inter war buildings. A repair scheme, the Society’s experts argue, would have set an exemplary precedent for concrete repair in the UK. Now it remains to hope that the demolition will not damage the body of the power station and the chimneys will indeed be accurately and swiftly rebuilt.

For further information please contact:

Cordula Zeidler, Caseworker,
The Twentieth Century Society, 020 7250 3857

Notes for editors:

Battersea Power Station was built to designs by Giles Gilbert Scott and in two phases. Station A, the west half of the building, went up in 1929-30, Station B to the east was constructed 1937-mid 1940s. The building was listed at Grade II in 1981 as part of the first group of C20 buildings to be added to the list, following the contentious demolition of the Firestone Factory on the Great West Road.